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🌖 It’s Friday, July 26. Here’s what’s on deck:
- Sewage spills after flooding
- Small hope for ash trees
- A superfast floating carnivorous plant
But first,
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Why dredging is so dangerous
In a 1935 advertisement for dynamite, the American chemical company DuPont wrote “crooked streams are a menace to life and crops.” They promoted explosives alongside pamphlets like The Farmers’ Handbook of Explosives and Ditching with Dynamite.
For hundreds of years, this ethos to use and control rivers to suit human needs was commonplace in Vermont. Farmers dug gravel out of rivers to build roads, like Route 100. Later, bulldozers would plow through river beds, in the hopes of containing a river to a set channel. In all, around half of the state's rivers have been straightened at some point in history.
In the face of more extreme precipitation, wanting to control rivers like this feels obvious — flooding wouldn’t happen as often, so buildings and roads wouldn’t get filled with water and caked with mud.
But it comes with a big tradeoff. When you make a river deeper and straighter, it becomes more like a pipe. It can’t easily overflow and dump some of its energy, and eventually, the channel will break free. That’s what causes the majority of damage that follows a flood like the one earlier this month — not from rivers rising, but the force of water that ripped out roads, bridges and septic pipes, and left homes hanging over rivers.
👷 Many places in Vermont still use dredging as a tool to protect property and human safety. The state granted hundreds of permits to alter streams after the flooding last year, many involved some sort of dredging.
🌧️ An alternative to dredging is restoring floodplains — places where rivers can burst their banks during heavy rains. This has helped reduce flood damage: A wetland upstream of Middlebury saved the town up to $500,000 in damage during Tropical Storm Irene, according to a University of Vermont study. And a 5-acre floodplain restoration project in Northfield reduced flood levels by 6 inches last year, according to a recent estimate from the Friends of the Winooski.
⛰️ In some parts of Vermont, the geography is too tight, and the topography above towns is too steep, for restoring floodplains to prevent flooding altogether. Dredging won’t fix the problem either. At a recent press conference, state officials said in Barre City you would need to dig down 100 feet in the Stevens Branch to reduce flood risk from dredging alone.
In other news
🌊🚽 Nine raw sewage spills: Flooding and heavy rain earlier this month caused some 40,000 gallons of untreated sewage from wastewater treatment facilities to spill into Vermont waterways. That’s a lot less than during the flooding this time last summer, when 28 wastewater facilities spilled millions of gallons of untreated sewage. Still, for the next few weeks, check whether swim areas at state parks and other beaches are open if you plan to hit the water.
⛰️ A granite dome in the Northeast Kingdom is now public land: The state of Vermont recently purchased 120 acres in the town of Sutton, including the cliffs, ridgeline and summit of Wheeler Mountain. The area has been a popular hiking and rock climbing destination since the 1940s and is sometimes home to nesting peregrine falcons.
🔋 Recycling batteries is mandatory: As of this month, no batteries are allowed in the landfill in Vermont, and you have to separate them in recycling. Right now, that’s limited to batteries up to 4 pounds, but starting in 2026 waste collection centers will accept batteries up to 25 pounds —including what you might find in lawn mowers and e-bikes.
🪲 Ash tree pest found in a quarter of Vermont towns: Since it was first spotted in Vermont in 2018, emerald ash borers have spread to dozens of towns in all but one of Vermont’s counties. The insects devour the inner bark of ash trees, ultimately killing them. A small number of ash trees can survive an infestation, and researchers are now working to breed trees that could be resistant to infestations.
In your backyard
Get out there
🌙🥾🐛 Hike at night: The North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier is hosting a moonlit stroll Friday, July 26 at 8:30 p.m. Search for glowing caterpillars under UV light and learn about moths and other nocturnal creatures. The hike will take place on grass and dirt trails. Children 8 and older welcome. Free, but register here.
🐝 ID the bees: Vermont has more than 350 bee species, and you can learn how to identify several bumble bees and other insects with a Vermont Center for Ecostudies biologist. Join an outing in Cambridge Saturday, July 27 at 9 a.m.
🌳 Join the movement to save ash trees: Learn how to find and report an infestation from the emerald ash borers and identify trees that show resistance to the insects. Called “lingering ash,” trees that don’t die could be used to breed beetle-resistant ash trees. Wednesday, July 31 at 10 a.m. at the North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier. Free, but registration is required.
🚧 Check trail closures: If you’re planning a hike, double check that access roads are safe to drive on after the recent flooding. The Green Mountain Club says the Monroe Trailhead from Camel’s Hump Road in Duxbury is closed. Same with Hedgehog Brook Trail in Fayston, Duck Brook Trail in Bolton, Lake Mansfield Trail in Stowe and several others.
One last thing
If you’re looking for adventure ideas, we wanted to share a few highlights from our guide to day trips in Vermont within an hour(ish) drive of Burlington and in the Northeast Kingdom:
🔎 Look for fossils along an ancient reef in the Champlain Islands where trilobites (extinct bugs that were once one of the most abundant animals on Earth), stromatoporoids (extinct sea sponges that look like cabbage heads) and ancient snails and squids once thrived. Head to the 85-acre Goodsell Ridge Fossil Preserve in Isle La Motte for a self-guided tour.
🏞️ Take a dip in Lake Willoughby, the deepest lake in Vermont, and gem of the NEK. It’s flanked by mountains and spring-fed, so it stays cool and clear all summer long. The surrounding Willoughby State Forest has hiking trails, camping areas and boat launches, along with a clothing-optional beach. If you want to add a hike to your trip, head up Mount Pisgah trail for a panoramic view of the lake and surrounding mountains.
🦆 Look for birds, beaver and other wildlife at the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge area in Franklin County, where you can explore a host of trails through wetlands. Stop by the visitor center in Swanton to borrow a pair of binoculars if you want a closer look.
And see what our public media colleagues suggest for day trips in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut.
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Vermont Public's biweekly dose of all things environment.
Credits: This week’s edition was put together by Lexi Krupp and Brittany Patterson with lots of help from the Vermont Public team, including graphics by Laura Nakasaka and digital support from Sophie Stephens and Zoe McDonald.
